Milwaukee a safe city? Utter nonsense

Sadly, the veracity of that comment depends on where you live in Milwaukee.

At 6:25 a.m. yesterday near 30th and Cherry, a father of four who brought his family here from Burma was shot and killed in what is being called a home invasion robbery. The man made great sacrifices to get his family to Milwaukee – even living with them in a refugee camp in Thailand along the way – only to be killed by criminals in our city.

Just this morning at about 9 a.m. a man was shot and killed and another seriously wounded in an incident near 82nd and Appleton.

So sadly, an increasing number of Milwaukee neighborhoods are unsafe, and the number of neighborhoods that have rarely been viewed as unsafe is increasing at an alarming rate.

Very simply, decisions made by the Barrett Administration over the years have become a recipe for disaster for our citizens when it comes to public safety. We have fewer police officers on the street today than when the mayor first took office, and the administration and our criminal justice system seem more interested in social engineering than protecting the rest of us from criminals.

A series of policy decisions by the administration has set us back, as well. Included in those policy decisions are the no pursuit policy (emboldening criminals who know they won’t be chased as they speed and ignore all traffic laws, endangering innocent citizens) and our policy toward drugs.

Yes, illegal drugs seem to be a low priority for the Barrett Administration – a fight they don’t want any part of. Well wake up, Milwaukee! Illegal drugs are out of control in our city, and you are blind if you can’t see it.